Twelve questions before you sign anything
Most website problems are bought, not built. These questions take ten minutes to ask and they sort the providers who have thought about this from the ones who have not.
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Short answer
Before commissioning a website, ask which accessibility standard the provider builds to, what is checked before publishing, who owns the assets, what licence records you receive, how claims are handled, and what happens at the end of the relationship. The answers separate a considered supplier from an expensive problem.
On accessibility
Which standard and which level do you build to. What do you check before handover, and is any of it automated on every page.
Who fixes an accessibility finding after launch, and at whose cost. That single question has settled more disputes than any other on this list.
Will you walk the site with a keyboard and a screen reader before handover, or only run a scanner.
The question about who fixes a finding after launch, and at whose cost, has settled more disputes than anything else on this list.
On the words
Who writes the copy, and who checks that claims in it are true. Many providers write confidently about a business they know for a week.
Will you use numbers, superlatives or outcome promises. If so, where do those come from.
Ask to review every claim before launch. It is your business making them, whoever typed them.
Ask where any number came from. Years in business, jobs completed, response times. Each one is either counted or invented, and you want to know which.
Ask where any number came from. Years in business, jobs completed, response times — each one is either counted or invented, and you want to know which, as set out in honest claims.
On images and fonts
Where do the images come from, and will I receive the licence for each one. Same question for fonts, which carry different terms for web use than for documents.
Are the demo images in the template licensed for my live site, or only for the demo.
Keep every answer in writing. This is the question that surfaces as a letter years later.
On data
What does the site collect, where does it go, and which third parties will my pages load. Ask for the list by name.
Will forms post to my own site or to a service, and who holds those submissions.
Who writes the privacy policy, and will it describe my actual site rather than a template.
Ask for the third parties by name. A provider who cannot list them has not looked, and that list is what your privacy policy has to describe.
On ownership and access
Who owns the domain, the hosting account, the analytics property and the code. The right answer to all four is you.
Will accounts be created in my name, or in yours with me as a user. The second version becomes a problem when the relationship ends.
What exactly do I receive if we part company, and how quickly.
- Who owns the domain, and is it registered in my name
- Who holds the hosting account
- Whose analytics property is it
- Who owns the code and the design files
- Will accounts be created in my name or yours
- What exactly do I receive if we part company, and how quickly
On what happens after
Who can edit the site without calling you. What does a content change cost and how long does it take.
Is there a check that runs when I add a page myself, or does quality depend on remembering.
How will the site be kept current, and what is included in any ongoing fee.
What good answers sound like
Specific, unhesitating and occasionally unflattering. A provider who says our scanner catches most things and we walk the keyboard paths by hand has thought about it.
Be careful with anybody promising compliance, certification or a ranking. Those are the three promises nobody can honestly make.
Vagueness is the signal. A provider who has done this work has specific answers, because they have been asked before and have had to fix something.
Nothing here is legal advice. These are procurement questions, and asking them costs nothing but ten minutes.
Vagueness is the signal. Somebody who has done this work has specific answers, because they have been asked before and have had to fix something.
On timing and process
How long does the build take, what do you need from me, and what happens if I am slow to supply it. Most overruns are caused by content, not code.
Who reviews the site before it goes live, and will I see every page. Approving a design is not the same as approving the words on ninety pages.
What does the launch involve, and will the old addresses still work afterwards. A redesign that drops every existing link is the most expensive mistake in this list.
Questions people ask
What if a provider cannot answer these?
That is useful information rather than a disqualification. A provider who says they do not do accessibility testing is at least being honest, and you can price it separately.
Is it reasonable to ask for licence records?
Entirely. A professional supplier keeps them as a matter of course, and handing them over at the end of a project costs nothing.
Should the contract name a standard?
If accessibility matters to you, yes. Naming the version and level turns a vague expectation into something both sides can check.
Who should own the domain?
You, registered in your business name, with your own access. A domain held in a supplier's account is the most common and most painful handover problem.
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